LINCOLN, Neb. -- In its first meet since the debut of a new,
more challenging scoring system, the No. 3 University of Oklahoma men's gymnastics
team (13-1, 3-1 MPSF) won its fifth-straight meet with a 435.850-426.350 victory
over No. 10 Nebraska (4-7, 0-2 Big Ten) Saturday afternoon at the Devaney Sports
Center.

Since the season began, six gymnasts competed on each event, with the top five
scores counting towards a team's final totals. This weekend across the NCAA,
five competitors performed on each event, and all five scores counted. The inability
to drop the worst score resulted in lower team totals compared to recent competitions,
but still higher than many of OU's season averages.

Oklahoma's 436.750 final score was its fourth-highest total of the season and
above its season average. Each of OU's team event scores remained within one
point of its average score.

"I think we handled the gymnastics well enough where for the most part we hit
the routines that we've been doing," OU head coach Mark Williams said. "No one
error really killed us. Our hit percentage was a little bit down from where
I'd like it to be, but we were trying to push a few things on vault in terms
of difficulty, and in other places there's never going to be the perfect competition.
When guys had struggles, they handled them pretty well. I didn't feel like we
put ourselves in a big hole on any particular event, but I still feel like we
have room to improve."

Ranked No. 6 nationally in the all-around, Alec Robin posted a career-high 86.250
to defeat Nebraska's C.J. Schaaf by 2.350 points to claim the all-around crown.
The sophomore's scores were boosted by a career-high mark on vault and a career-high-tying
total on pommel horse.

"Alec keeps on getting better," Williams said. "He's competing more confidently
as the season goes on. Having him in the all-around again, being a guy that
we can count on anywhere in the lineup has definitely been a luxury. I'm starting
to depend on him more and more. He's started to carve out a position on a lot
of events where at the beginning of the season I didn't expect him to keep doing.
I'm happy for the progress he has made."

For the fourth-straight meet, the Sooners won at least four team and individual
event titles. OU posted the highest team scores on floor, pommel horse, still
rings and high bar. In addition to Robin's high score on floor, Troy Nitzky
on rings, Presten Ellsworth on vault and Stanton Rehkemper on high bar notched
meet-high results.

The meet was held at the Devaney Sports Center's indoor track, which provided
a unique atmosphere for OU and 580 fans. The larger venue lack of seating around
three sides of the arena was an added challenge in addition to the new scoring
system.

OU began the meet on pommel horse, where Robin's career-high-tying 14.750 opened
the competition for the Sooners. It gave them an early lead that would never
disappear. The Sooners posted a 71.650, which gave them a slight 0.250 point
advantage over the Cornhuskers after the first rotation.

On floor, the Sooners extended their lead with a 73.350, a rotation capped by
Robin's meet-high 15.200. Dylan Akers scored a 14.850, while Todd Dowdy and
Ellsworth each recorded a 14.600.

With a 4.500-point lead, Oklahoma moved to its third event, vault. The Sooners
scored a 72.000 on the apparatus, their second-lowest total of the season. Ellsworth
scored a 15.000 to lead all gymnasts and Robin again anchored OU's rotation
with a 14.900, a career high.

At the halfway point in the competition, the Sooners had a 217.000 point lead,
5.100 points higher than the host Cornhuskers.

A 74.650 on rings was the third-highest total of the season for Oklahoma on
the event. Ellsworth led off with a career-high-tying 14.900, and Troy Nitzky
followed with a meet-high 15.300.

Oklahoma posted a 72.500 on high bar, its third-highest score of the season
on the event, and found itself with a 7.000-point lead after the fifth rotation.
Career-highs of 14.850 from Stanton Rehkemper and 14.700 from Ethan Jose led
the way for the Sooners.

On the final rotation, the Sooners notched a 71.700 on parallel bars. Danny
Berardini closed with a 14.550, a high for OU. It marked the only event where
Nebraska claimed both the highest team and individual score.

The third-ranked Sooners are back on the road in six days for a top-three matchup
with No. 2 Michigan on March 9 at 6 p.m. CT.

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